Reconciliation With First Nations

TRC Commissioners stand with representatives of Residential School Survivors at the delivery of the final report

The Final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was delivered in December 2015, at a moving event in Ottawa. Prime Minister Trudeau and several premiers were there along with leaders of many Faith Communities and First Nations leaders.

These are not recommendations destined to sit on a library shelf and collect dust; they are Calls to Action. Trudeau declared with great emotion and sincerity that responding to these and to improving the relations between Canada and Indigenous Peoples of Canada was his government’s top priority.

Together, we can change the education system and help transform Canadian society.

Indigenous People and Canadian Justice

We want to have reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and instead we are doing exactly the opposite. We want to make up for residential schools and instead we are putting more and more Indigenous people in jail, using a punishment mode while they are there that strips them of their mental health and their self-esteem. See this article in the Globe and Mail “Prisons are the Adult Version of Residential Schools” to get a feel for what is happening. Look for blogs on Marlene Carter on Albert Dumont’s (South Wind’s) website

It is time to put a stop to the over-incarceration and the mistreatment of Aboriginal people. We need an end to solitary confinement, or at least follow the UN Guidelines — never for youth or people with mental Illness (60% of the aboriginal population in jail lives with mental illness) and a maximum of 15 days for everyone else. If you want to help me, please call me. Rev. Frances Deverell webeditor@cusj.org.